And So it Begins....

It's pretty simple and straight forward really,... I'm a fat guy.

I'm 5'7 on a good day.
I am 30 years old.
I weigh 517 pounds.

I'm not exaggerating, I weigh 517 pounds.

I've always been fat. As long as I can remember I've always loved sitting on my tail and eating food that wasn't good for anybody to consume (much less me). I don't have any rare, funky diseases; no worms, germs, growths, no inflamed or enlarged thyroid... I just eat anything I want, whenever I want to eat it. I'm not active, I hate exercise, & I usually go out of my way to be lazy and pathetic.

I am actually quite healthy (as a Clydesdale). My blood pressure is slightly elevated at times, but I don't have any signs of diabetes. I pant like a mountain climber after hiking simple stairs but at least I manage to conquer the beasts.

Lately however, I've noticed little things are changing...

My knees hurt. I can't sleep through the night cause my back begins to ache. I get winded when walking short distances. I'm exhausted and in great pain after a simple shopping trip with my wife through Walmart (Yes, I'm married but we'll approach that subject later). My heart started skipping beats about 10 years ago. Rarely at first, then about once every couple of days depending on the level of activity. My heels began cracking wide open about 8 years ago and I lost all feeling and nerve sensation there at the same time. About 4 years ago I found a “Superficial Blood Clot” in my lower left leg right above my calf muscle. It “went away” but I realized at that point I had crossed some invisible line.

Let's fast forward to last Monday. My leg started hurting again. It was kind of a burning sensation in my lower left leg. I knew what it was but refused to give in to my wife's pleas to visit my doctor. By Wednesday morning my wife had enlisted my mother in a verbal (repetitious) petition and I went to the doctor. It's always interesting to hear your doctor suck all the air out of the room when you show him an area of concern. Once he regained his composure, he confirmed my concerns that indeed I had 2 “Superficial Blood Clots”....

I have a beautiful wife. I married way outside my class. Actually my wife is proof that I am a world class salesman:) When we married, I gained 2 kids that are probably the smartest kids on Earth. A year later we added Hannah, and Holly is due in the next two weeks.

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Armed with the knowledge of who is counting on me, I walked out of the doctor's office with the understanding that SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE!

Yesterday I thought, “cool, I'll just watch what I eat and everything will be easy”... that crap doesn't work. By the end of the day I'd polished off 1/2 a supreme pizza and several squares of Baklava. As I laid on the couch watching reruns of The Office I thought, “I'm going to need some structure and discipline.”

I've been on every diet known to mankind; Atkins, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Slim Fast, Nutri-System, South Beach, Royal Canadian Air Force Diet, Fasting, Starvation, .... ugh. I'm sure all these diets work but I've never been successful at them. It's about determination. It's about will power (I couldn't type that with a straight face).

IT'S ABOUT DECISION-

I have decided that I want to lose 5 pounds every 7 days (basically 5 pounds a week). I will continue this for 20 weeks. That should be about 100 pounds. While 417 pounds is still considered MORBIDLY OBESE for someone of my stature and age, it will be a visible improvement in my immediate health.

SO HOW DO I DO THIS?

I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong first before I can figure out how to change. AA teaches us that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.”

It's common knowledge that calorie reduction is a good place to start but the kind of calories is also important. I know that I can't eat 15 Lil' Debbie's and call it a day. I remember from school (thanks miss Fournier) that a calorie is: a unit of heat equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree at one atmosphere pressure (okay I cheated, thanks Google). For our purposes: a unit representing the energy provided by food. I found the calorie formula information here. I currently consume 4780 calories a day. To accomplish my goal of 5 pounds every week, I have reduce my daily calories to 2280 per day. Sounds Simple right??? Maybe on day one.

THIS IS HOW I AM KILLING THE FATMAN~

First off, I'm starting this blog to gather support in my pursuit of health and to enlist your support in keeping me encouraged and accountable. If this is to work, I'll have to be proactive in what I do everyday as well. Several things I began doing today will have to become an everyday occurrence. I'll be sharing thoughts, ideas, recipes, and looking at your helpful suggestions as well. Below is the basic formula. I'm sure this thing will evolve as we go.

1. Write down everything I eat.


2. Read every label.


3. Count the Calories.


4. Measure every item.


5. Drink More Water (at least 64 ounces a day)


6. Be creative ( it's cliché but this must be a life style change).


7. Plan my meals.

Ultimately I want to encourage others by my fight... after all, I'm fighting for my life!